Chris Housman grew up on country music, playing guitar and fiddle in a family band in a small Kansas town. After graduating from high school, he moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music, one that was likely to be behind the scenes: As a gay man, Housman assumed he had no chance of pursuing his dream of becoming a country singer himself. At least not in the Nashville big leagues.
But Housman began to think otherwise when he heard two songs by Kacey Musgraves in 2014. Her first single, the gritty small-town character study “Merry Go Round,” followed by the CMA Song of the Year-winning “Follow Your Arrow,” made him think that maybe one day he could have a place as a gay man singing country music.
“I said to myself, ‘Oh, can you say that kind of stuff in country music?’” Houseman says. Rolling Stone“Other than listening to the Chicks songs I grew up on, what reason would I have to think I could do country music, be in Nashville, and be myself?”
A decade later, Housman has fulfilled his dream with a collection of songs that merge his gay identity with his passion for country music. His debut album, BlowinkThe album was released in June, and since then, the artist has been making waves by featuring his male fans in videos for his singles “Guilty as Sin” and “Laid Back.” The clips have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube while also gaining significant support from country-focused cable network CMT.
Lyrically, these two songs don't specifically address Housman's affections for a man or woman, but other tracks on the album are more daring, particularly the song that put him on the map, “Blueneck.” The lyrics describe him as a “local country guy with a hybrid car” who thinks “Y'all mean everyone“, which speaks to the tension he experiences in reconciling his rural roots with his identity as a gay man with a global worldview.
“Even when we were writing ‘Blueneck,’ I knew it was a taboo subject,” he says. “Yes, I’m literally talking about politics in a country song. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this is the song that caught everyone’s attention.”
Housman’s risk in writing “Blueneck” paid off, as the song went viral on TikTok and inspired viewers to download it, making it the top country download on iTunes in 2021. Building on that momentum, Housman has continued to tackle contemporary themes in a way that aims to build a bridge with more conservative country fans — those who might not resonate with songs with titles like “Drag Queen.” (Housman’s lyrics tell the story of a 6-foot-5 schoolteacher named Michael who works part-time as a fierce drag queen named Michelle.)
“I feel compelled to break things down in a way that makes sense to my small town people… that makes people realize that we’re all human,” he explains. “It makes a lot of sense in my soul to have that conversation in country music because of the simplicity and craftsmanship of the songwriting.”
The album's opening track, “High Hopes”, was the last song Houseman wrote for Blowink Collaborating with producer Jerry Fuentes, formerly of The Last Bandoleros, it’s a defiant anthem about staying true to your heart in the face of a world that demands you dim your sparkle. He says he’s already thinking about making a second and third album with an ever-growing catalog of songs.
But Housman doesn’t need to look far for inspiration to keep moving forward. The fans he’s connected with along the way confirm that an audience hungry for different perspectives represented in mainstream country music is already there.
“I hear this over and over again from people in the comments on YouTube and TikTok, where they say, ‘I didn’t think I was a country music fan until today,’ or, ‘I don’t like country music, but I like this,’ or, ‘I grew up on country music, but then I turned away from it because I felt unwelcome. But this is bringing me back,’” Housman says.
Housman hopes the achievements he has made so far will help the country's industry see this moment as an opportunity to expand its audience.
He says he envisions country music as a home with a solid foundation that can't be torn down.
“The living room will always be a place for a straight white guy to play guitar and sing songs about beer and trucks,” Houseman says. “But what if we added a little back porch, a tiki bar for gays and all the other outcasts? It wouldn’t change anything about the living room or the house itself. It would just add value to the property.”
